Soaring food prices lead to widespread protests.Social unrest has been growing on the back of rising inflation, which is undermining consumers' purchasing power and fueling general dissatisfaction with the fallout of economic reform. This has led to a rising number of demonstrations. Groups such as doctors, nurses and university professors have also threatened to strike, a rare phenomenon in Egypt.
Hmmm. Now what could that be all about? I mean the Bush administration has spent a trillion dollars and the last seven years spreading the cure-all of democracy in the region, and they're still not happy! Why?
The story continues:
Consumer price inflation rose again in February, to 12.1% year on year, up from 10.5% in January. The month-on-month increase was 1.8% in February, compared with 4% in January. Food prices, which account for 40% of the basket of goods used to calculate consumer price inflation, rose by 16.8% year on year in February, similar to the 16.2% year-on-year increase recorded in January.
In addition to soaring food prices, building materials, especially steel and cement, have also seen sharp price increases, driven by buoyant domestic demand which is further boosting inflationary pressures. The price of rebars produced by Al-Ezz Steel, which commands a 65% share of the domestic steel market, rose by $67 a ton at the beginning of March. This was the fourth increase so far this year, which the company blames on global factors boosting input costs. Cement prices also rose in mid-March. Fertilizer prices, which are government controlled, have also risen sharply, by around 90% at the beginning of March...
If that's happening in relatively stable Egypt, you can be assured its happening throughout the region. Meaning that, democracy or no democracy, future unrest in the Middle East is being baked into the cake. And it won't be al-Qaida or Iran or any of Bush's other boogymen, but Big Bertha, Inc. behind it all.
News Flash: Americans are not immune.
Surging costs of groceries hit home Bread, eggs, milk prices up sharply
Boston Globe -- March 9, 2008--American families, already pinched by soaring energy costs, are taking another big hit to household budgets as food prices increase at the fastest rate since 1990. After nearly two decades of low food inflation, prices for staples such as bread, milk, eggs, and flour are rising sharply, surging in the past year at double-digit rates, according to the Labor Department. Milk prices, for example, increased 26 percent over the year. Egg prices jumped 40 percent. (Full)
Kumbaya baby. Turns out we're all in it together after all. (Duh)
So, while candidates, governments and the governed focus their worries and attentions the "issue No. 1" dejur, be it winning/ending certain wars, and finding new ways to fuel our old ways, Big Bertha Inc. is fixing to fix everything all at once -- by culling our troublesome herd down to a manageable level.
The Coming Food Catastrophe By Bwynne Dyer
March 27, 2008: "This is the new face of hunger,'' said Josetta Sheeran, director of the World Food Programme (WFP), launching an appeal for an extra $500 million so it could continue supplying food aid to 73 million hungry people this year.
"People are simply being priced out of food markets....We have never before had a situation where aggressive rises in food prices keep pricing our operations out of our reach.''
The WFP decided on a public appeal three weeks ago because the price of the food it buys to feed some of the world's poorest people had risen by 55 per cent since last June. By the time it actually launched the appeal, prices had risen a further 20 per cent, so now it needs $700 million to bridge the gap between last year's budget and this year's prices.
Last year it became clear that the era of cheap food was over: food costs worldwide rose by 23 per cent between 2006 and 2007. This year, what is becoming clear is the impact of this change on people's lives.
Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a Pulitzer.
